


Why Won't You Stay Dead?

by elysifish



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assassination, Blood and Torture, Burns, Childhood Trauma, Explosions, Fire, Gen, Ghosts, Gun Violence, Hallucinations, Kidnapping, Murder, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Past Character Death, Past Drug Addiction, Past Drug Use, Post-Apocalypse, Psychological Trauma, References to Drugs, Sober Klaus Hargreeves, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 08:36:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18656869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elysifish/pseuds/elysifish
Summary: Five could hardly believe what he was seeing. In front of him, a few feet ahead, was alivingperson. A survivor of whatever terrible thing had happened here. His name was caught in the back of his throat, as if Five was afraid of drawing attention to himself. The survivor shook out the dust from his curly hair, then stood up straight and took in the sight of his surroundings, cringing a bit. His eyes laid on Five, who was gazing back, eyes wide."Wait wait wait…Five?"The two stared at each other, both in awe at the other's appearance. It was then that Five finally found the courage to speak."Klaus."_____In which Klaus survives the apocalypse.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Aiiiight fellas. This is my first time posting on this site, so let's hope I do it right. Bear with me I'm fragile.

           Another flash of light. A sudden wave of fiery hot, dry air that took away his breath and left his tongue heavy in his mouth. Five stumbled, nearly falling, before standing up straight, knees shaking. Fear. That was all he could feel. His entire peripheral vision was filled with flames and destruction, nothing like the world he had just been in before the time jump.

            _No_. He thought, mind racing at a rate that gave him a terrible headache. He didn't want to accept what, deep down, he knew was true.

           He shook his head, eyes shut tight as his headache got worse. He turned on his heel and began to run back in the direction he had come from, hot air burning his face, eyes stinging.

           There was the academy. Destroyed. Burned to the ground. His heart nearly stopped. _No… no no no no!_

           He took quick, panicked breaths, his throat drying painfully within a few moments. He squeezed his fists, trying to push backwards in time like he had just pushed forward moments ago. It was in vain, some force was stopping him from going back.

           “Shit!” He yelled out, eyes shut tight. His headache was becoming unbearable as he realized his unfortunate situation. He was stuck in the future, not a single sign of life to accompany him. Five willed himself to calm his heart rate some, taking shaky breaths, a hand over his heart.

           He shook his head, walking up the destroyed stairs that he had known whole merely minutes ago. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Everything he had ever known - gone. All of it. He trudged through the rubble, some still flaming, scanning the ground for anything - _anything_ \- living.

           His breath caught in his throat when he laid his eyes on an ashen hand sticking out of a crumbled stone slab. Five walked forward, holding his breath, and slowly bent down, trembling. He lifted the stone slab, grunting at the weight of it, and managed to tip it, the slab hitting the ground carelessly. He was almost afraid to look down. He held his breath and convinced himself to look.

           He shook his head, barely able to believe what he was seeing. It was a body, singed and darkened with ash and dust. A tugging in the back of his mind led him to kneel down, taking the hand into his own, smaller and trembling, non-deserving of all that they had witnessed. He turned the hand over, hardly stopping a cry from escaping his mouth, his worst fears confirmed. Printed on the wrist, faded and worn, was a tattoo. The same tattoo he sported on his own wrist, along with all of his siblings.

           He dropped the hand, stumbling back to his feet. He looked around, heartbeat loud in his ears, searching. Searching for more clues. For any idea on what had happened to cause the destruction that he saw before him.

           He wandered cautiously around the rubble, trying to ignore the older, charred bodies of his siblings. The burnt stench of the corpses was only worsened by the suffocating heat, and Five had nearly gagged several times at this point. With his arm covering his nose and mouth, he came across another body. Interestingly enough, this one seemed to be holding something within the palm of its hand. Five kneeled down to retrieve whatever was in its grasp, but nearly jumped out of his own skin when someone - some _thing_ , perhaps - groaned. He jumped to his feet, eyes wide and heart racing, scanning the landscape wildly to try and find the source of the groaning.

           Movement in the corner of Five's vision caught his immediate attention, turning to look at it full on. A battered figure, half buried in rubble, struggled to stand up, pushing slabs of stone and bricks off of himself. He got to his feet, brushing off the dust and debris that had gathered on his clothing and skin.

           Five could hardly believe what he was seeing. In front of him, a few feet ahead, was a _living_ person. A survivor of whatever terrible thing had happened here. His name was caught in the back of his throat, as if Five was afraid of drawing attention to himself. The survivor shook out the dust from his curly hair, then stood up straight and took in the sight of his surroundings, cringing a bit. His eyes laid on Five, who was gazing back, eyes wide.

           "Wait wait wait… _Five?"_  

           The two stared at each other, both in awe at the other's appearance. It was then that Five finally found the courage to speak.

           "Klaus."


	2. Chapter 2

           The two boys, years apart in age yet born at the same time, stared at each other in mutual awe. Five was the first to speak.

           "What the _hell_ happened? How are you alive?"

           Klaus couldn't stop a smile spreading onto his face. Standing in front of Five was the same little boy that he had just seen a few minutes ago, rolling a joint under the breakfast table. Though much older and more rugged looking, he hadn't changed a bit. It was a bit comforting, among everything else. Klaus shook his head, snapping himself out of a sort of daze, and rushed to answer Five's question.

           "Oh, uh, well, you _see_ … Everyone… seems to be… dead. Yes, yes, they sure are. Ah, kind of a bummer, actually. I was hoping that I could _finally_ be freed of this _boring, awful_ life, but… she has other plans; I guess."

           "Klaus. What. Happened." Five snapped, growing more and more annoyed by his brother's mindless rambling by the second. His expression brightened, seeming almost excited to tell the story.

           "Well… my best guess… is that _everyone_ was killed mercilessly in the fiery aftermath of the moon exploding!" He smiled, clapping his hands together. Klaus was far too cheerful at this current moment for the consequences he had just gone through. Five assumed it was trauma. Or maybe he was high. Again. Likely - in fact _very_ likely - the latter.

           Five sighed, rubbing his temples, trying to lessen the headache still ravaging his mind. Klaus was definitely not helping.

           "Okay, but… how the _hell_ are you alive?" He asked, peering up at him, his gaze sharp and attacking. Klaus paused. He sighed, his giddy facade finally breaking.

           "I _told_  you, she has other plans. I'm not allowed to stay dead. And by she, of course, I mean _She_. Y'know. God, or whatever. She simply doesn't like me. Or… needs me alive, or some shit. Anyway, yeah. Not allowed to stay dead, so…. Tada?" He awkwardly waved his hands, flashing a quirky smile.

           Five wasn't sure if he could take his brother's words seriously, based on his current state. There was a whole lot of questionable material from that response, but he simply did not have the mental ability to unpack all of that at the moment. He turned away, sighing heavily.

           "Right. Okay." He shook his head, beginning to pace along the rubble. "We need to figure out how the hell I am going to get back to my time. Seems that going back is significantly harder than going forward."

           Klaus nodded. "Okay… well, guess we'll start on that, huh?" He flashed a smile. "Though I _can't_ say I'm looking forward to that… Honestly do not like the idea of roaming this place completely alone."

           He laughed. "And it's not like I can _off_ myself! That little girl up there will just keep sending me back!"

           He shook his fist up in the air, as if that would make any difference in the matter. Five sighed, crossing his arms. His brother's situation was terribly unfortunate, but so was his own. Though, it wasn't one bit of a surprise. Two boys, stuck. One trapped to the living world and the other imprisoned in the wrong time, no sign of escape for either one of them.

           Five supposed that they ought to stick together in the long run if they ever planned on getting out of here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the short chapters. Once I get the ball rolling here, they will begin to get longer. Just gotta set everything up first.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavier stuff today. Five talks about their childhood. Mentions of childhood trauma and mistreatment.

           "Can't we stop and rest? My _toenails_ hurt."

          Five rolled his eyes. It had been nearly half an hour now that the boys had been aimlessly wandering through the dead landscape, and Klaus had been complaining since the ten minute mark.

          One more loud groan and Five stopped in his tracks, turning around to glare at his brother. "Would you _shut up?_ We need to keep moving."

          Klaus sighed and sat down in the dusty, cracked dirt, propping his head up with his palms. "But _why?_ There's nothing here. It's all gone. Destroyed."

          Five took a breath and let it out slow, willing himself to settle down. What his brother said was right; as far as he could see, everything was either dead or destroyed. He shook his head and walked back to where Klaus sat. He had to keep their persepctive positive, it was the best that he could do for their situation. He crossed his arms and spoke, "Except that's not entirely true. There _are_ things that are left, not everything is beyond repair. We can scavenge, survive. We _can_ get through this, we just need to stay in the right mindset. Now come on, get up. We can rest when we find shelter."

          Klaus looked up at his brother with defeated, nearly hopeless eyes. "... Damn it, why are you so _determined?_ What are you _fighting for?"_

          Five frowned, sighing and looking out across the horizon. Klaus's defeatist attitude was rational. There wasn't much left. As far as he knew, they were the only ones left alive on the planet. What _was_ he fighting for?

          But then he looked back down at his brother. At the battered, broken mind of the survivor. Surviving not only the apocalypse, but his own mind, his tormented past and the treatment that he had received from their father. Reginald had treated them _all_ as if they were tools, but the shit that Klaus had been through left him truly traumatized. Five recognized the broken expression of his brother as one that he had seen from him nearly his entire life. Though decades older and free from their father's grasp, he still held the trauma as heavily as he did when he was a child.

          That was what he was fighting for. His siblings. The ones that he had fought side-by-side with for as long as he could remember. Their upbringing was torture enough; they didn't deserve to die like they did here. He wanted to get back to his own time, to try and save them, if it was possible. He wanted to _be_ there for them, rather than abandon them like he had just to prove a point to his father. He _needed_ to go back, and he was determined to figure out how.

          He looked down at his brother, then smiled ever so slightly, reassuring. "I'm fighting for you."

          Klaus tilted his head, shocked and utterly confused. "But… _why?_ What could you possibly do for me now?"

          Five looked out across the landscape again, watching the flames that refused to die continue to lick the sky. He took a deep breath, then looked back to Klaus. "If I can figure out how to go back, I can be there for you when I wasn't. I can be there for all of you. _That_ is what I can do, and until I figure it out, we have to keep moving. If we want any chance to survive out here, we need to move. There have to be habitable places somewhere out there, we just need to find them."

          Klaus nodded slowly, gazing down at the ground. He sighed, then looked up, with an amused smile, shaking his head. "You are _truly_ unbelievable."

          Five held out his hand, and Klaus took it, standing up. "Alright," Klaus said. "Let's go, I guess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this story so far! I'm amazed at the amount of notes and kudos I've received since posting the first chapter 💕💕 I would love it if I could hear from you guys! Comments over kudos, your input will help the story grow!!


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